The office was established under the Parliament of Canada Act. I assumed my responsibilities as Senate Ethics Officer on
October 5, 2012.

I am an independent Officer of the Senate. My mandate is to administer, interpret and apply the Conflict of Interest Code for Senators, adopted by the Senate in May 2005 and revised in May 2008. A major responsibility of the office is to advise senators on how to meet their obligations under the Code. This is done by assisting individual senators on an ongoing basis in understanding their
obligations, identifying areas of conflict or apparent conflict of interest and giving opinions and advice, thereby preventing problems before they occur, a primary objective of the office.

Another important responsibility of the office is to oversee the annual disclosure process under the Code, including a series of face to face meetings with senators and the maintenance of the
Public Registry, which includes updated information concerning each senator on assets and liabilities, outside activities, gifts or other benefits, travel and declarations of private interests. At the end of the annual disclosure process, a compliance letter is issued to each senator to confirm that he or she
complies with the requirements of the Code. Rules of conduct for Canadian
parliamentarians are generally similar across federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions, all of which have independent ethics commissioners.

An
Annual Report on the activities of the office is filed with the Speaker of the Senate and is available on the website.

I hope that this site provides the information you require to understand the role of the Office of the Senate Ethics Officer in assisting senators to fulfill their public duties while upholding the highest standards, thereby maintaining and enhancing public confidence and trust in the integrity of the Senate as an institution.